Project: Higher Education Institutions and Redressal Mechanism
An Exploratory Study on the roles and functioning of Internal Complaints Committees
Call for Research Associate :1 Post (On Contract)
Duration: 3-4 Months
About the Project:
Sexual harassment is considered one of the serious obstacles to pursuing education in a safe and enabling space and environment across global higher education systems. It is also among the most common forms of violence reported to affect individuals, groups and entire organisations profoundly. Key features such as hierarchical educational institutions, precarious working conditions, deeply normalised gender-based violence, toxic academic masculinities, a culture of silence and a lack of active leadership are all ingredients enabling sexual harassment. It has been reported that students, young women, women with insecure employment, minorities (religious and sexual) and individuals from historically and socially marginalised communities are the most exposed to sexual harassment in comparison to other groups. The issue of sexual harassment continues to persist in higher education institutions. However, in the recent past, there have been multiple protests, judicial pronouncements and policy initiatives to counter sexual harassment at educational institutions. Students have protested sexual assault and harassment in several universities and colleges and expressed their dissatisfaction over authorities’ response to the incidents. Although the victims of sexual harassment have started raising their voices, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has attempted to address the issue by formulating new regulations in 2015. There is a need to have a reflexive, effective and sustainable institutional response that is necessary to prevent and regulate issues of sexual harassment. Scholars worldwide, including India, have unanimously agreed that synchronised efforts of various actors and agencies are critical for effectively implementing the Sexual Harassment Act 2013. One such actor is the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), which carries a tremendous responsibility to prohibit, prevent and redress the issues of sexual harassment at various institutions in India. Thus, this research project aims at understanding the roles, functioning and challenges of ICC in colleges and universities in Delhi.
Requirements/Expectations
- The Candidate should be sensitive to and have a good understanding towards intersectional violence in higher education.
- The Candidate should be a Post Graduate in Social Science with a Ph.D. in Gender/Education Studies/Sociology/Political Science/Urban studies with some experience in conducting field-based research.
- Good command of Hindi and English
- Candidate should be able to review secondary literature and policy documents and collate relevant secondary data and its analysis under the overall guidance of the Principal Investigator.
- Candidate should be able to develop qualitative research tools under the guidance of the Principal Investigator.
- Candidate should be able to coordinate and supervise all field-related project activities, including communicating with relevant stakeholders, filing RTIs, conducting in-depth interviews, translating into English and transcribing qualitative interviews, data analysis and report writing in consultation with the Principal Investigator.
- Candidate should be able to process and analyse the data by using qualitative and quantitative research packages
- Any other work assigned by the Principal Investigator related to the research project mentioned above
Candidates from historically marginalised communities and women are highly encouraged to apply.
The applicant must commit to work full-time for the duration of the appointment.
Remuneration – Salary is Rs. 47,000/- per month (Consolidated)
Application Process: Interested individuals can send their updated CV to vandana@cwds.ac.in by 14th October 2024
Only short-listed candidates will be invited for an interview.
Dr Vandana – Principal Investigator